Refuse in the form of small pieces of debris such as leaves and papers (wrappers) are generally gathered by hand or with spiked tools when sparcely distributed, or by sweeping methods when densely distributed. In any case, work is involved which is considered tedious and time consuming when compared with the trivial matter of the material collected. It is an object, therefore, to provide a device to facilitate and accelerate the process of removing debris from lawns and such grounds. With the present invention, a rolling drum is provided upon which debris is collected by impaling the same upon protruding spikes. Heretofore, the spikes of such drums have been vulnerable to damage and the stripping means provided to remove debris have been complex and cumbersome; and it is to expediency and improvement of such a drum that I provide yieldingly retractile spikes that are not readily damaged by obstructions such as rocks, or curbs, or sprinkler heads, etc., and wherein the spikes are retractile for stripping the collected debris as and when desired.
It is an object of this invention to provide spike retraction means in a drum of the character thus far referred to that permits rotation of the drum while retaining controllability. With the present invention, the control means is confined within the workings of the drum and is cooperatively related thereto to permit depression of the spikes independent from the controllable retraction thereof.
It is also an object of this invention to provide yieldable spike support in a drum of the character thus far referred to that permits controllability while rotation and independent depression and retraction can simultaneously occur. With the present invention, the depressible support is cooperatively combined within the workings of the drum and rotation means, there being a manual control means to govern the retraction that strips debris from said yieldingly retracted spikes.